Jupiter Jazz (Part 2)
" " is the thirteenth session, or episode, of Cowboy Bebop. Cast In order of appearance: *Spike Spiegel *Gren *Faye Valentine *Vicious *Jet Black *Bartender *Julia (in flashback) *Ein *Edward *Lin Plot Gren tells Faye a war story about his time on Titan with Vicious. While in a World War I style trench Gren finds Vicious listening to a music box playing the song Julia. Gren asks if he could play the song on his saxophone after the war and Vicious hands Gren the music box without saying a word. Vicious gets up to go but swings around with his knife and stabs a scorpion that was about to sting Gren. Gren said he wanted to meet with Vicious to learn if he had framed him. Then Faye opened fire on Gren but he managed to disarmed and handcuff her. Jet walks into the Blue Crow and shows a picture of Faye to the bartender, who confirms that she was at the bar last night. He said she reminded him of Julia, who used to sit at the same bar stool two years ago. Spike watches moments from his past while asleep. The first is of the red rose in the rain, then a bouquet of roses by the window next to an opened vial of Red Eye. Then Spike and Vicious are in a shootout as partners. Other images include Julia at the window, Vicious in bed with Julia, and Spike on an operating table receiving his transplant eye. In the flashback Spike talks about quitting the syndicate, and he asks Julia to run away with him. He shoots at gangsters with a machine gun hidden inside a bouquet of roses. Julia is seen at the window ripping up a piece of paper. Vicious is heard asking if someone is going to betray him. Julia is heard saying someone is going to kill someone else. Then Spike remembers the more recent past, of Faye by his side after he fell from the cathedral. He recalls a conversation with Julia in which he explained that his eyes were different colors because his left eye saw into the past. Spike wakes up to see a crow on his chest. He struggles to stand up and realizes he was tranquilized by Lin. Jet asks the glasses man for the Orlando Apartments, a blue building. The glasses man says he doesn't want anything to do with foreigners. Then Jet looks up and sees the blue apartment building. He walks into Gren’s apartment, with gun ready, and finds Faye on the bed—handcuffed and groggy. Spike flies his Swordfish II and gets a call from Jet who says he’d let Spike back on the crew if he helps to get Gren. Gren, disguised as a woman in a burka, makes his way to the drug deal with Vicious on the roof of an abandoned skyscraper on the outskirts of town. He drops a bag of red eye vials and backs away. Lin goes to inspect them and uses a potency reader to confirm that the red eye is X Plus, indicating it's real. Vicious tells Lin to give her a suitcase containing the Titan Opal that was requested. Gren reveals himself, kicks the suitcase back towards Vicious and shoots the latches off to reveal an activated bomb. The bomb explodes but only Lin is injured. Spike sees the explosion in the distance and gets in his MONO racer. Then Gren explains to Vicious how Julia found the Solar Transmitter inside the music box. He asks if Vicious is trying to kill him again? Gren recounts how they fought the war together and how they were comrades. How he had looked up to Vicious. When Gren starts open firing on Vicious, Lin jumps in the line of fire and takes a bullet for him. Gren escapes in his ship when he sees Spike’s racer fly overhead. Vicious takes the red eye and leaves Lin behind, dying on the ground. Spike goes after Vicious in his racer and engages in a 2-on-1 dogfight. Vicious fires missiles at Gren’s MONO craft and hits him, sending the ship to the ground. Then Vicious hears the tune of Julia played on the music box Gren hid inside the bag of red eye. When the song ends, the solar transmitter activates and causes an explosion to destroy one of the wings. He barely manages to fly back to his Red Dragon ship. Spike disengages and lands next to Gren’s wrecked craft. He asks Gren where to find Julia, but he spits up blood from an internal injury. Gren asks Spike to help him into his ship, so he can fly back to Titan—and try to see it one last time—before he dies. He obliges and tows Gren’s ship into space. Spike cruises back to the Bebop and, after he tells Jet he isn't bringing in anything, Jet lets him inside. On a canyon in the desert Laughing Bull and his son watch a shooting star in the sky. Laughing Bull tells the child that it is not an ordinary star, but the tear of a warrior who has finished his battle on this planet and could not find his way to the lofty realm where the great spirit awaits us all. Quotes Themes and Motifs *Missed Bounty - This Session is an example of the Bebop crew failing to capture a wanted bounty head, Gren. *Spike's Past - This Session gives insight into Spike's past. Homages and References *The War on Titan contains many similarities to World War I. In particular, both wars contain a combat strategy known as Trench Warfare where fortified positions made fighting lines static as a result of advances in fire power but not in mobility. In this way, battles were fought for every inch of ground. Gallery 13 GrenVicious2.png 13 Faye2.png 13 Jet1.png 13 ViciousGren.png 13 GrenSpike.png Sessions Category:Sessions